South Korean consumer electronics maker LG Electronics Inc. reported a third straight quarterly profit as it sold more smartphones that run on a faster wireless network.

LG Electronics said Wednesday its net profit totaled 157 billion won ($142 million) for the July-September third quarter compared with a 414 billion won loss a year earlier. The result was better than expected.

It had losses in the last two quarters of 2011 and returned to profit in the first quarter of this year.

LG said its mobile phone business was profitable thanks to demand for smartphones that run on faster LTE” networks.

LG reported a quarterly operating profit of 221 billion won compared with a 32 billion won operating loss a year earlier.